This invention relates to integrated circuits such as programmable logic devices (“PLDs”), and more particularly to the inclusion of high-speed serial interface (“HSSI”) circuitry on integrated circuits.
High-speed serial data signalling has become increasingly important for transmitting data between devices (e.g., integrated circuits) in a system. The speeds at which users of such signalling want to transmit data are constantly increasing. An integrated circuit may be developed at a time when a certain maximum data rate is widely accepted. That integrated circuit may therefore be designed to support that maximum data rate. Soon thereafter, however, it may be foreseen that significantly higher maximum data rates will be needed. Moreover, these higher data rates may be technically challenging to achieve. It would therefore be desirable to have techniques that facilitate adding to an integrated circuit architecture high-speed serial interface circuitry that can support data rates higher than the data rates that can be supported by pre-existing circuitry in that architecture.